Transcript
Speaker: Action! Tennessee Titans 2003 game against the Washington Redskins. Head coach Jeff Fisher calls a timeout. He looks at his cornerback, he knows exactly what the Redskins are going to run, and he tells them exactly what to do. And he walks them through the coverage they're about to run and how he wants his player to play it.
Speaker: Player nods. I gotcha coach. I gotcha coach. Guess what happens? Ball snapped. Wrong execution of what coach asked him to do. Wide receiver for Washington. Wide open.
Speaker: Catches the ball. Walks into the end zone. Tennessee loses by three points. After the game, owner of the Tennessee Titans, Bud Adams, former Houston Oilers, didn't mince words with the reporter, and he said they got outcoached.
Speaker: That's not what had really happened. What happened is a player heard his coach and never actually listened to him. And if you coached long enough, you will watch this exact moment happen to you.
Speaker: Maybe not necessarily on a football field, but in a huddle, on a sideline, in a, hey, come here for a second. Let's have rehash the conversation we just had.
Speaker: What did you hear me say to you with a player? The stakes will be different. The mechanism, however, will be identical. Welcome to the Captains and Coaches podcast where explore the art and science of leadership through the lens of athletics and beyond. I'm your host, Tex McQuilkin, and today this show we're focusing on building leaders inside your program, not just athletes.
Speaker: and connecting words to actions and brains and interpretation of what we say as coaches to what our athletes actually hear and can get them to execute on the field or the coat a court. Today we're using Coach Fisher's story as the spine of something bigger. The actual mechanics of why hearing fails and listening works.
Speaker: what the research says you can do about it, and how to build a program where I got you, coach, means something instead of nothing. And I spoke at the 2026 Soldiers to Sidelines Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, and Coach fisher Fisher, he was the keynote speaker of the event, and he shared this story with all of the attendees, and there's a lot of morals and lessons behind it, and I'm going to connect some research to it and we're gonna have some fun with this story.
Speaker: all right So starting with the part of the story that matters the most, that cornerback wasn't blowing his coach off. He was in intently engaged and he wanted to win.
Speaker: He wasn't being lazy or disrespectful in that huddle. He genuinely believed he understood the assignment. And he said the words back with confidence, I got you coach.
Speaker: And he was still wrong. That's what makes mistakes this dangerous for us as coaches. A captain who says, i got it. Isn't necessarily lying to you.
Speaker: They might fully believe that they've actually got it. Hearing feels more like understanding from the inside, right up until the moment it doesn't hold up under the pressure of the game.
Speaker: Fisher put it plainly when he broke the story down for the us room of of coaches at that Soldiers to Sidelines Summit. The corner, he wasn't listening.
Speaker: He was hearing, and that distinction, receiving sound versus processing meaning, is the whole ballgame. Here's where research backs this up.
Speaker: Active listening isn't a passive state you fall into. It's a skill that requires you to set aside your own agenda in that moment and fully concentrate on the person in front of you and the message in front of you.
Speaker: Setting aside your own agenda in any moment, particularly sports. In a timeout...
Speaker: and I've had a lot of these as a lacrosse coach, in a timeout with a clock running, 11 other things going on in your mind. That's so hard for a coach to do, whether we're split on offense or defense, or we've got everybody together in the moment in time specifically. That matters. It's equally hard for the player standing there in front of us trying to look calm when their heart rate is jacked,
Speaker: and they know the weight of the moment in the game. That means the failure in coach's story isn't a player failure, it's a systems failure. Nobody built in a check for whether the message actually crossed the gap.
Speaker: If your standard for whether a captain understands you is, did they nod and say they got it You're grading the wrong thing. You're grading compliance and not comprehension in this stressful moment.
Speaker: So what do you actually do about this? We're going about three concrete moves that you can do as a coach to set your team up for success. First, kill the yes or no check.
Speaker: Stop accepting, I got you coach, as proof of anything. It's a social reflex. I hear this presenting all over the world. Do you understand? Does that make sense? I'm almost bullying people into saying yes.
Speaker: It does not work, especially when you're coaching teenagers. that's That's what they're programmed to do in the classroom. Does everyone understand? Yes, because they just want to move on and get to the next thing.
Speaker: Most people say it to end a conversation, not to confirm the download of what actually happened. Replace this with a teach back.
Speaker: This going be very powerful powerful and bring this to practice before we bring it to timeouts in games. Ask the captain to explain the assignment back to you in their own words. not repeat your words and parrot it back to you.
Speaker: If they can only parrot your phrasing, you don't know if they understood it or just memorized you and mimicking you. Do they understand it so they can go apply it on the field?
Speaker: And context may change in... the the moment of the game. If they can translate it in their own words and it still holds up, now you know that it landed, they understood, and they stand a better chance to apply it.
Speaker: This costs you 10 extra seconds in a timeout. Fisher's cornerback cost his team a touchdown in a loss because nobody spent those 10 seconds.
Speaker: Ah. Second thing, chunk the information. One of the quiet reasons hearing fails under pressure is that coaches try to deliver too much at once.
Speaker: Or two coaches want to get their their two words in, so then athletes are confused. There's too much going on. A player, their heart rate's jacked. They're excited. They want to get out into the field and play, and they got one, two, three more information thrown at them, then they can comprehend to then go apply.
Speaker: And they can't process four-part instruction from two different people the same way they can process it at rest or during practice. Give one directive.
Speaker: Confirm it landed. Then give the next one if you have time. Under real pressure of the game, less information delivered well beats more in information delivered fast Stick to your guns.
Speaker: One piece. Third, build listening cue into your program before the season ever gets close to a game.
Speaker: And this is going to change every single season. Some programs use a physical signal, a tap on the helmet. We see that used very well when, I need a sub, I need a break.
Speaker: ah What are some other examples of that that you can bring to the table to make sure that athletes are hearing you understanding? ah so It could be a specific word.
Speaker: Stop. Freeze. Repeat it back to me. Some way that they're able to, okay, coach, um I don't understand you. Versus, i got you, coach, and them not understanding this at all.
Speaker: So it could be a signal or could be an environment which they can say, coach, repeat that back to me. i don't understand. You're going to have to invent this trust in the middle.
Speaker: You're not going to invent this trust in the middle of the stress of a game, especially when it comes down to one possession like the Titans did. So we need to create this environment where they can stop and say that they don't understand or create simple signals that mean these simple words and cues that when we are stressed, we default to movement because we don't have the oxygen or the words to express and we can operate faster.
Speaker: just like the tap on the helmet i need a sub coaches see the signal and they can get a sub out there faster than the kid can get off the field and communicate that they need a sub as an example we build this in august so it's automatic in november now let's go one layer deeper as we do in the show because there's a reason this kind of breakdown happens even with players who are trying hard to listen and want to succeed, just like Coach's corner Cornerback.
Speaker: There's a concept out of the design and business research called shared language. The idea is simple. Two people can use the exact same word and mean two completely different things by it. and nobody notices until something breaks.
Speaker: And that's exactly what happened on the Titans' sideline. Fisher and his cornerback both would have told you before the snap that they understood the coverage.
Speaker: But did they understand it when the ball was snapped in this particular moment? Think about how you talk to your own captains and players. You say lead constantly or have your one word, you say compete constantly. You say trust the system, trust the process constantly.
Speaker: Do you know what your captains think those words mean? Or what does trust the process mean? Are we just assuming that they know? Have you ever actually defined them out loud Or did you assume that it was so obvious to the player because it's so obvious to you? Or it was once defined to you way back when you were a player or early in your coaching career, so then you assume that this new kid should know it because everybody knows it.
Speaker: No. okay And here's the actual actionable piece with this bit. Before the season, sit with your players, sit with your captains, and build a shared glossary.
Speaker: We have this on my lacrosse team. It's not a poster on the wall. It's an actual conversation where coaches have what they want to install, offense, defense, and as a unit.
Speaker: We have our glossary, and then we start to educate and teach the team. Alignment, assignment, technique. Where to be, what to do, and how to do it. All of that's going to be shared language language on defense and offense. If a defender finds their way on the opposite side of the field, or vice versa. If offense is trapped on defense, they still need to understand the language so they don't become a liability or a fish on the field.
Speaker: So pick your five, your starting point, pick your five most used coaching words, the ones you lean on in the biggest moments and have each captain tell you what they think that that word means when you say it under pressure.
Speaker: So if you don't have a glossary in place, default now, try it, test it. See if your interpretation of alignment assignment technique or whatever your words may be, What does your athlete come back to without you providing or hand-holding or forcing and twisting their arm into into the words?
Speaker: You will be surprised how often the definitions don't match yours at all. Fix that with a walkthrough, a talkthrough, not during a timeout with the season on the line.
Speaker: Last piece, and this is the one coaches skip the most. how you saying something How you say something is not separate from what you are saying.
Speaker: How you say it, not separate from what you say. Tone, target, and timing. I've talked about this in the past. All of that is part of the message. Speech research on this is very clear. Most speakers spend all their preparation time on content and almost none on delivery.
Speaker: And I've... spoken all over the world, many different countries, delivery in different countries is almost more important because they're not necessarily following around with the words.
Speaker: So how I'm presenting and using my body and my space around me to be engaging, to capture and can keep attention when I'm i'm speaking specifically is very important.
Speaker: So I hope all coaches start to consider how they're delivering them their message. When the ratio should run closer in the other direction with most time they're spending on how they're teaching, tone, target, timing of their message versus exactly what they're saying.
Speaker: Speakers do it all the time. We need you to start to think you are a coach, you are a public speaker. I train all the captains that I'm working with that they are public speaking. Leading is public speaking. As a coach, you're a default leader. You're public speaking.
Speaker: So take that note from... professional speaking to now coaching. You're given the same assignment a hundred times in season. you're You're speaking the same language. If we're in the weight room, I'm saying the same thing for one, two, three different sessions during that same day. If I'm working with different groups, freshmen, sophomore JV, varsity, I'm saying the same thing one, two, three times.
Speaker: It's going to get boring for me, but I have to bring enthusiasm to the environment in order for them to match that energy. If you deliver it in a flat message, especially when it comes to practice time, well, it's not going to be as sticky in their brains.
Speaker: Fisher's, Coach Fisher's cornerback, he answered fast and confident. I got you, Coach. If the delivery in that timeout had signaled real urgency instead of routine, does he answer that fast?
Speaker: I got you, Coach. Maybe not. i don't know. I also don't know how Coach delivered. I know how he delivered the story that he shared with us. So we'll we'll get to more on that. But During timeouts, how are you delivering your message in those stressful moments?
Speaker: I don't feel it should change how you're delivering and teaching in practice moments. So that's in the timeout. That's important things when I have to install it.
Speaker: There's also hype up speeches that I do get excited. Maybe that's what the team needs in a timeout. Fourth quarter, huddle between quarters, I don't separate offense and defense.
Speaker: It's everybody comes together and I give a message that I need to have them close out that game or claw back or step on their throats, do something. So fourth quarter is different because I need everybody in an emotional state to charge through our last 10, 12, 15 minutes, whatever we got left.
Speaker: So context and timing is everything. This particular story that coach shared was one play that i he knew based off his coaching experience exactly what was going to happen and he told the corner very specifically what to do got you coach part public speaking is saying the same thing over and over again beating a dead horse to death used to be a joke that we would share on the seminar circuit So, and there's there's useful research behind performers who have done the same show a thousand times and still finding a way to make it feel like the first time for whoever's in the seat.
Speaker: Your players, your captain, they're hearing that assignment for the first time in this exact moment during a game. This exact quarter rep, their opportunity. They may have seen somebody else do it in practice or we maybe run 10,000 times in practice, but not to this magnitude, not to this moment when the game's on the line.
Speaker: So even if we said this 50,000 times in the season, we need to make sure it's clear again. This time, deliver it like the stakes match the moment.
Speaker: I want you to slow down and make sure we're in teaching mode so they're in receiving mode. Make eye contact and confirm that they're actually looking at you before you talk and not just standing near you or hiding in the huddle.
Speaker: Personally, I like to organize my huddles so I know exactly who I'm talking to and when and can be very efficient. Goalies, defense, middies, attack.
Speaker: So if I have to direct towards my attack, my offense, I know exactly where they are in that moment. I'm not searching and hiding. So that's how I like to organize, but it's still slow and direct if we're in a timeout teaching mode.
Speaker: So think about that. specific to the moment we can't get overly excited and overloaded with them with information otherwise we'll put them in a position to freeze or make a mistake so one more piece before we close because it reframes everything that i've talked about this far on the show and Being in the room with Coach Fisher when he tells this part of the story at the Soldiers to Sideline Summit, man, it it hit me.
Speaker: And it gave me goosebumps. And how he was such a professional in his coaching manner to lead this young man, his cornerback, to a lesson and have the whole team experience it.
Speaker: Later on in that same 2003 season, during the bye week, Fisher brought in a group of hearing impaired children to talk to his players and ask their favorite players questions, see the training field and environment, and be there after practice with the team as they all huddled around these group kids.
Speaker: And these kids were who... could not hear a single word in that room. Everything came through them, all the questions they were asking, everything was operated through an interpreter.
Speaker: And Fisher's point to his players was that those kids listened to every single thing that was said when they were on that field, because their lives depend on their ability to listen rather than just hear.
Speaker: The players with fully working ears are the ones who tune out. The kids with no hearing at all are the ones that are locked in on every single word. Hearing was never the variable that mattered.
Speaker: Attention was. Rather than throw that player, that cornerback, under the bus for his mistake, Coach Fisher saw saw a moment, an opportunity, to deliver an important message to his whole team, the difference between hearing and listening.
Speaker: And most people aren't hearing. They're hard of listening. Your captains, your players, they don't have a hearing problem. None of them do. What they have, what all of us have, is an attention problem. And attention is ah is trainable in a way that hearing isn't.
Speaker: That's really the whole episode in one image. Fisher's cornerback had two working years and missed a coverage. Fisher's guests, the kids that he brought to the field, they had no hearing at all and they missed nothing.
Speaker: The gap was never in their ears. Here's everything in one list, just to rehash it rapid fire here so we can actually use it this week in practice for everyone.
Speaker: Number one, replace, did you hear me? Does that make sense? With a teach back, make them translate it in the assignment, not repeat it.
Speaker: Using their own words is actually going to help them lead huddles when they have to lead their their teammates around them. Number two, chunk your instructions under pressure.
Speaker: One directive at a time. Confirmed, then the next. Build a listening queue in prison so you have a tool for it before you ever need it to close games. 4. Build a shared language on purpose. Take your five most used words that and define them with your captains. and Involve your players into this but in the preseason, beginning of the season, not towards the end when it truly counts.
Speaker: And five, match your delivery to the stakes. Say it like it's the first time, every time, especially the hundredth time. Fisher's cornerback wasn't a bad player.
Speaker: I mean, to be on the field, you are not a bad player at that level. He was an unchecked one in that moment. And he had two working years, which turned out... not to matter at all.
Speaker: Hearing receives information. Listening creates action. Nobody is hard of hearing on your roster. Some of them are hard of listening.
Speaker: Build the checks that turn one into the other. That's the show. Go build your team, leaders lead, If you want more in-depth education, head to captainsandcoaches.com, education tab at the top. I got two awesome courses, Why They're Not Listening. That's about leading the and individual, the mental and emotional state of the individual, taking the rebellious kid and turning them into a captain, a leader on the team. And the second going be punishment.
Speaker: That's shaping your team, the mental and emotional state of a squad. forming, storming, norming, and coming together. It's something beautiful. A lot of fun in there. Captainsandcoaches.com. If you enjoyed the show, appreciate it. Like, review, share with your team.
Speaker: That's all I got. Until next time. Thank you for tuning in.
